


Sinking Ships

by ptolemy



Category: Yu-Gi-Oh!, Yu-Gi-Oh! Series
Genre: Digital Ghosts, F/F, F/M, Ghosts, History is long and full of weird pairings, M/M, Multi
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2016-01-11
Updated: 2016-01-11
Packaged: 2018-05-13 03:34:34
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,029
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/5693023
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/ptolemy/pseuds/ptolemy
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>Rarepair drabbles from when the giant YGO shiplist was young, and I was feeling particularly feisty about the challenge of odd couples. 'Ship' and 'couple' are used fairly loosely to represent anything from passing interest to an actual relationship. Tags list all the ships currently included. Written between 2008 and 2009.</p>
            </blockquote>





	Sinking Ships

_Chaosshipping (Priest Set x Thief King Bakura x Yami no Bakura x Seto)_

Lightning was breaking outside the dark office windows as the spirit stood, silhouetted, before it. He loved dramatic entrances.

The spirit’s teeth were a wicked glint of white, slightest hint of fang, as the CEO of Kaiba Corp finally made his own less dramatic entrance into his dark office. There was a clicking sound as he tried ineffectually to turn on the lights, and the spirit waited somewhat impatiently to be noticed.

“Lovely night for a power outage, eh, Seto-sama?” he inquired at last, drawing Seto’s gaze sharply up.

“Bakura?” Seto bit out, his tone masking confusion in aggravation. “What do you want?”

“Just a little of your attention, Seto-sama,” the spirit drawled, stepping down lightly from the window and making his way over to Seto, the Ring glinting against his dark clothes. “Think of it like a game, a game I’ve almost won before you even joined in.”

“What are you babbling about?” Seto demanded. “Get out before I call security and have you removed.”

The spirit tsked softly and leaned in close, until his face was a whisper away from Seto’s; Seto didn’t flinch. “Where’s Mokuba, Seto-sama?” the spirit inquired softly before drawing back again, watching with some amusement as Seto’s face broke its stony demeanour for sick realization.

“You bastard, what—“

“The game,” the spirit continued, unperturbed, as he began to circle Seto like a predatory cat, “is almost at its conclusion, Seto-sama. Such a long game its been, such _history._ An endless game that you, sadly, played such a meager role in.”

Seto said nothing, but his eyes vocalized his restrained anger. How delicious, thought the spirit, so few things change after all.

“I wonder,” he said, “which side you were on after all, Seto-sama? There was once a darkness in you, a palatable evil that was so unfortunately swept from your mind by the Pharaoh.” He was behind Seto now, leaned in close over his shoulder. “A shard of the dark master – a piece of _me_ \- inside you.” A sneer, hint of fang. “And not for the first time, either, eh Seto-sama?”

The spirit saw Seto’s shoulders tense, sensed a trickle of subconscious recollection, and the Ring glowed faintly as the spirit worked to pull those memories to the surface, circling around to Seto’s front again.

“How does it feel to have the darkness inside you, Seto-sama?” he whispered, watching the broken mirror inside Seto’s eyes, seeing double in deep blue. The memory was a distinct one – a violated priest, a thief dressed in red, sneering with a hint of fang, and then...

 And then a darkness that never dies but exists in fragments, clutches and lives on past the end of the game.

* * *

_Clovershipping (Noa x Kisara)_

He had found her and she was his, hidden in the deepest reaches of the web, barely more than a carving in stone. Her chiseled features stood beside those of Noa’s original objective, an uncanny reflection of his so-called brother, born thousands of years prior and yet, through all the gambles and statistics of genetics, stone and flesh were a near perfect match. This not-Seto and her stood side by side in stone, and in that instant, Noa knew he had to have her. He took what Seto had and even a petty coincidence of appearance, even a fraction of resemblance made Noa jealous. Made Noa need, compulsive, desperate, bitter.

He made her and she was his. Shorter and younger to better match his own unchangeable age. Programmed for love, whatever that was. Programmed for loyalty and adoration. Ideal because the original had no comparable personality, so she was a blank canvas for Noa’s genius. She was his. He gave her blue eyes and no name.

* * *

_Sedateshipping (Malik x Shizuka)_

“Tell me,” he whispered, his hands over her eyes so that her whole world was his breath on her neck and the hum of the blimp under their feet. “What do you see?”

* * *

_Downshipping (Keith x Cyndia)_

Keith read the story years later, when they published parts of Pegasus’ journal in the paper. It was a lengthy article, mostly filler space – few people cared about the eccentric game creator anymore, and fewer still believed the insane things he’d written about his travels. Keith didn’t buy it either, of course. Sure, he’d had his fair share of weird shit in Duelist Kingdom and Battle City, but seeing ghosts? Mystical Arab jewelry? The guy really had been off his head.

The article included a picture of Pegasus’ wife, a portrait, and Keith found himself staring at that with much more interest than the article itself. He tapped his fingers against the paper and resented the bastard all over again for being able to get such a hot wife on top of everything else, but in the end, he decided she was a prize worth going a little nuts over.

* * *

_Breathshipping (Shaadi x Cyndia)_

He had lived a thousand lives and seen a thousand faces, ever-watchful for _his_ return, eternally patient. He watched the face of Egypt change and fall, watched the sand gradually erode at the pyramids and the history of his people. Over time, it all blended together into muted shades of grey, waiting, waiting.

But then the cogs began to move again. His duty was reawakened, the timeline his to manipulate again. His future kept him in Egypt to encounter the man whose path would in turn shape millions more, to lead him, to show him what _could be_ and then drive him to see it through.

Shaadi knew this path well, and saw it through with timeless patience. But when he pulled the illusion, clear and bright as day, from the man's mind to drive him - a love lost, a desperate need for _redemption_ \- Shaadi was surprised to find that the illusion burned brightly in shades of white and gold before himself as well, more than just a ghost. She turned her head to Shaadi and smiled and in the space of a breath, a single grain in an endless sea of Shaadi's life, his world was lit in shades of gold.


End file.
